Writers & Artists Get Publishing! Indie Books and Illustrators in the Scottish Borders Getting started... Publishing your own book is an exciting project, and these days, it’s easier than ever before. However, the options are changing all the time, and with so many different routes to choose from, it can be hard to decide what to do. To help you get started in independent publishing, CABN (Creative Arts Business Network) has compiled some case studies on writers in the Scottish Borders who have taken this route: Serafina Press is a publishing company Important points to remember market space is increasingly being set up by Jennifer Doherty. It began occupied by companies offering cover • e B realistic about your reasons for with her own children’s books, in design, marketing packages, editing publishing. If it’s a personal project, collaboration with illustrators including and proofing services or illustration. don’t spend a fortune on lots of copies. Cara Lockhart Smith, and now also Some of these companies are very Research the print-on-demand (POD) publishes books by others. good, but rates vary enormously. Don’t options mentioned below, and only pay over the odds, and don’t assume Peter Flannery has published his first order what you really need. These days that a great cover and proof reader supernatural thriller in print and Kindle it’s possible to order tiny print runs and will make up for the shortcomings in formats, and sold over 40,000 copies. get great results for a small outlay. your writing. The extra investment may Dorothy Bruce has published her first • e B realistic about the chances not lead to sales, so do your homework novel in several print and e-formats and of making any money. Most self- and ask around. is also experimenting with images. She published authors earn next to nothing The writers on the following pages has set up her own publishing imprint to from their books. A very lucky and have kindly shared their experiences do so. gifted few make money - they’re the to save you time, but bear in mind ones who hit the headlines. Happily, Hopefully their stories will give you some that neither they nor CABN are liable you can test the market these days ideas and recommendations, though for the success or otherwise of your with a small print run, so there’s bear in mind that the fast pace of book! Good luck, do your research, no need to take big financial risks. change means this can only be a and keep us posted with any snapshot. • e B careful about spending on writing recommendations or news from your support services. Most writers have self-publishing ventures by emailing wised up to vanity publishers, but that [email protected] Writers & Artists Get Published! Indie Books and Illustrators in the Scottish Borders 2 Jennifer Doherty Jennifer Doherty is based in Eyemouth, where she runs the Smokehouse Gallery and Serafina Press. She has collaborated with illustrators on several books for children which are published under her own imprint. Author Books: The Eyemouth Mermaid Children's picture book, Serafina Press (2007), 32pp, print, ISBN 0955269628 The Mouse of Gold (with Gerald Goldin and Cara Lockhart Smith) Children's picture book, Serafina Press (2006), 32pp, print, ISBN 095526961X The Pirate Kings of Eyemouth (with Lindsay Grime) Children's picture book, Serafina Press (2008), 32pp, print, ISBN 0955269652 The Eyemouth Mermaid (with Lindsay Grime) Children's picture book, Serafina Press (2009), 32pp, print, ISBN 0955269628 The Treasure at North Berwick (with Sophie Elm) Children's picture book, Serafina Press (2010), 32pp, print, ISBN 0955269679 The Lion of St Andrews (with Katherine Coulton) Children's picture book, Serafina Press (2012), 32pp, print, ISBN 0957230907 The Fierce and Gentle Wolf (with Gerald Goldin and Cara Lockhart Smith) Children's picture book, Serafina Press (2011), 32pp, print, ISBN 0955269644 As Publisher: Bear in a Boat in the Borders by Cara Lockhart Smith The Berwick Bear and His Fiddle by Cara Lockhart Smith Secrets of the Smuggler's House by Fay Waddell www.serafinapress.com Writers & Artists Get Published! Indie Books and Illustrators in the Scottish Borders 3 Jennifer Doherty in conversation I had had many years of business copywriting and training experience – often with small companies, or companies launching new products. Not directly relevant, but it meant I had a business sense, helped me see how a small publishing company could be possible. Now, while that was all helpful – I certainly don’t think it was necessary for successful self-publishing. Who’s the target audience for your book? Children, from toddlers to about 9 years – and the parents, grandparents, friends and relatives who buy for them. What was the rough timeline for the publication process? A whole book takes about 9 months, “Find an illustrator whose style you like. Talk minimum – from the story being written to the copies being collected from the to them, work with them, but don’t tell them printer and sent to the distributor/retailers. what to do! Trust that they know how to What was your initial print run and why? use images to bring your work alive – that 3000, with some books running to 4000. the book will be all the better for its having This was based partly on the number of come from you both. Illustrators are trained books I had to print in order to get the to read the text with a visual sense – they per-copy price down to a manageable level, and partly based on talking to can put things into pictures that can then various people – booksellers, tourist come out of the text, and simplify it.” attraction staff, about how many books they thought they could sell. And some of it was just making a guess. What publication route did you choose Why did you decide to publish your who would sell the book. I have my own and why? books independently? gallery in Eyemouth, where we could Conventional printing. I felt that it was incredibly difficult to get sell signed copies, and we knew local into the conventional children’s publishing retailers who stocked Cara’s cards and Martins the Printers, based in Berwick, market. I had two books that I wanted to really admired her work. So we had the offered a great service, explaining publish. I knew and worked with a terrific beginnings of a distribution network. everything about the process. I liked illustrator and writer (Cara Lockhart I knew about distributors because I the idea of local printing, and, back in Smith), so it made sense to produce the sometimes bought books for the gallery, 2006, print-on-demand was less widely books ourselves. In fact, we had three so I sort of stumbled towards a system available. Up till now, I’ve stayed with books in mind - Cara had a book ready for getting the book out there. the same model, but I should be looking to go The Berwick Bear and his Fiddle - at other possibilities too – storing and and it felt much more interesting to me What experience did you have keeping track of thousands of books is to build a small publishing house, rather beforehand? a real chore. than one-off publishing. I’d worked in magazine publishing in London in the 1980s and early 90s. On What services did you use, and would But the experience of marketing the one publication, the clients were book you use them again? first book was pretty similar to that publishers themselves. So while I’d never Illustrator - though describing that as of any self-publisher. worked in publishing, I did know some of “using a service” doesn’t feel quite right the issues. I also have friends in publishing, – it is such an intimate, back-and-forth A big part of that was thinking about and we’d talk about the market etc. creative process. Serafina Press books Writers & Artists Get Published! Indie Books and Illustrators in the Scottish Borders 4 Jennifer Doherty in conversation Advertising Printed catalogue – this might have helped sales, but was relatively expensive – and quickly out of date. That said, if I was more savvy about “It felt printing, or able to do more of it myself, much more a catalogue is a very good thing. interesting Would you recommend a website/ to me to Facebook/Twitter /blog for self- publishing writers? Which have proved build a small effective? publishing I’m new to social media – but rather like Twitter best of the possibilities. I’m house, rather sure they all work well, if they’re used than one-off effectively – and Instagram certainly seems to offer possibilities for any kind publishing.” of illustrated work. What online forums or organisations do you recommend for indie publishers in your genre? Again, because I’m new to social media, I haven’t got a favourite yet – but I have the feeling, via Twitter, that there are a few places where people meet and share and link, and good stuff comes out of that. More research there for me, I think. Organisations: There are resources for anyone writing and publishing in wouldn’t exist without the illustrators. Any observations about pricing: Scotland. Publishing Scotland Printer – see above. Yes – I’d use again. That it’s hard to know what to do! (www.publishingscotland.org) and Distributor – we were small, but because We’ve kept the same cover price - The Scottish Book Trust (http://www. we had plans for 3 books in a short time, £5.99 - since 2006.